Northampton City Council to vote on national black Revolutionary War memorial

File photo | Associated PressMaurice A. Barboza is heading a drive to build a national memorial in Washington, D.C. to slaves and free blacks who served as patriots in the Revolutionary War.

NORTHAMPTON – Daniel Alvord. Samuel Blackman. Thomas Clark. Historians have had to scratch to come with their names, but these and seven other black men from Northampton fought in the Revolutionary War, and the City Council is hoping to throw its support behind an effort to memorialize them.

When it meets on Thursday, the council will take up a resolution to support a national memorial in Washington, D.C., to the estimated 5,000-10,000 slaves and free blacks who served as patriots in the War of Independence. Should the resolution pass, Northampton would join several dozen communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut that have thrown their weight behind the project.

According to research compiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution, 10 black men from Northampton fought for independence between 1775 and 1783. They were joined by black patriots from Hadley, Hatfield and Amherst. In all, Massachusetts supplied about 31 percent of that war’s black soldiers, the research shows.

The local resolution pledges support for the National Liberty Memorial to African Americans of the Revolutionary War, a privately-funded project tentatively located near the National Mall in Washington. Legislation authorizing the memorial is currently before Congress. The National Mall Liberty Fund has contacted every municipality in the former colonies that sent black soldiers off to the Revolutionary War, urging them to support the cause.

Council President David J. Narkewicz said he called Northampton’s Veterans Agent Steven Connor after the city received an e-mail on the topic last month.

“He said it was something we should do,” Narkewicz said.

Northampton's black Revolutionary War veterans

Names of black patriots from Northampton who fought in the American Revolutionary War:

In a telephone interview from his home in Virginia, Maurice A. Barboza, who is heading the drive, explained how the idea for the memorial evolved out of his personal research. Barboza, who has both black and white ancestry, first became interested in the subject while looking for information about his black great grandfather, a Maine resident who fought in the Civil War. Soon he was tracing both his black and white ancestors.

His white forebears proved easier to track, Barboza said. He was able to trace them all the way back to the 1600s in Watertown. Because some of them were patriots, Barboza was invited to join the Sons of the American Revolution.

Barboza said he was taken aback, however, when the Daughters of the American Revolution rejected his aunt, who is black. Lawyers were called in and the organization ultimately agreed to accept members regardless of their race, he said. It also pledged to research minorities who fought in the Revolutionary War. Among the results was the book “Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War.” The book included the names of hundreds of black soldiers.

Meanwhile, Barboza formed an organization called the Black Patriots Foundation, which succeeded in obtaining land on the National Mall after Congress approved legislation for a memorial in 1984. Four years later, President Ronald Reagan authorized a memorial to be located between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.

The project stalled, however, and finally fell apart amid what Barboza called “internal bickering” among the Black Patriots Foundation. In 2003, Congress placed a moratorium on new monuments in the National Mall. Although Barboza’s project was grandfathered, it eventually lost that status and he had to start from scratch.

In May, senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Charles Grassley of Iowa introduced new legislation for the National Liberty Memorial. Although it will not be located on the National Mall, Barboza said his organization is working with the National Park Service to obtain a site nearby. Most of the money for the memorial is expected to come from private sources. Barboza said it is difficult to predict the cost but estimated it could be as high as $14 million.

As part of the Northampton resolution, the city encourages volunteers to unearth the names of other local black Revolutionary War veterans for a national database. It would also send certified copies of the resolution to every member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, Gov. Deval Patrick and the local school superintendent, librarian and historical society. Although research has already uncovered the names of 5,000 black patriots, Barboza said there are believed to have been twice that number.